"Empire in Decline": Historian Alfred McCoy on U.S. Aggression in Venezuela, Iran & Beyond

[Uncle Joe]

As President Trump threatens Iran, Venezuela, Mexico, Greenland and more, renowned historian Alfred McCoy says the United States is "an empire in decline," following a predictable pattern of militarism abroad and political instability at home as it loses power and influence on the world stage. "American politics become increasingly contorted and irrational," says McCoy. "I think the thing to do is to realize that we are an empire in decline, … and it will continue for another decade or two, until American power finally slips away."

McCoy just published his latest book, "Cold War on Five Continents: A Global History of Empire and Espionage," on the impact of U.S.-Soviet imperial proxy wars in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

[BeyondGeography]

1. It's much more like a superpower committing suicide

That’s what it looks like to Europe (and a gleeful Russia and China).

[Uncle Joe]

2. The professor does address that.

Empires declining are naturally cyclical but *rump is definitely accelerating the process not only with his retreating from the world, and return to "gunboat diplomacy" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the Western Hemisphere, but also surrendering the renewable energy battlefield to China in favor of late 19th and early 20th century primary energy sources: fossil fuels.

[CousinIT]

3. Thanks for posting this. I posted a related thread w/ an article he'd written ...

... that details what he said here too. This segment was very informative and explained Trump's absolute destruction of the US's leadership and its future worldwide for the foreseeable future.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220934572